Well Christmas is now over, and we can begin a new season of worship, or do we? In all the taking down of decorations and Christmas trees, recycling our Christmas cards and generally removing any signs of the last few week’s celebrations we tend to forget a very important event in our calendar, and that is Epiphany, the arrival of the Magi. And I believe we forget it to our detriment.
We don’t know how many there were, we don’t know where they came from (except the East) or how they travelled, yet they have become as well known to us as the Simpson’s or our favourite soap or music stars. Most nativity scenes will have them kneeling at the manger with the shepherds and dressed as kings. They have become what our imagination allows them to be.
There are certain facts that can be deduced from the gospels; we know they followed a bright star; we know they met Herod, and we can fairly guess that from the account of Herod massacring the innocents of up to two years old, that Jesus was a toddler. We also know two very well-known facts; that they gave Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh and they bowed down and worshipped him.
All these things make up one of the most fascinating stories in the bible and one of the most symbolic. There is the thought that the gifts the magi brought to the manger were prophetic gifts in the sense of gold for a king, frankincense for a priest and myrrh for suffering and death. But in a recent advent study we have learnt that perhaps gold was given as a means of exchange to provide the necessities of life; frankincense and myrrh as important tools for prayer and healing, all acknowledging Jesus’ future ministry. The Magi brought the gifts they had and laid them before Jesus, and they bowed down and worshipped him in recognition of who He was and what He was going to bring about in the world.
The gifts we bring to further the mission of the church, and the spreading of the gospel are no less important and acknowledge the continuing ministry of Jesus in our world. Our practical skills, our pastoral care, our use of money, our evangelising our prayer life and worship all give meaning to a life in Christ and are symbolic of the life our Lord spent whilst here on earth.
So, as we begin a new year let us use the gifts we have as instruments of new life in our church, and as a transformation in the lives of those who have yet to embrace the wonder of God’s son born into our world, and the story of the Magi who offered their gifts and bowed down and worshipped Him.
I wish you all a happy and most blessed New Year.